Avoiding the strike

This is Mike...
We drove out to the Sacred Valley early to avoid the massive strike against privatizing the Inca ruins in the Cusco area. The strike is still going on in the valley but the population size is much less here which makes us feel better. Everything is shut down and I mean everything without exception. Thankfully we are in a nice place for the next week so being locked up isn't such a big thing. We do, however, feel really bad for the people who are here only for a short while, on their "Trip of a lifetime," only to find Machu Picchu and the other sites closed. Since the airport will be closed for two days as well it adds a whole other crimp into many peoples schedules. We bumped into several retired couples who were truly saddened by this turn of events. For them the journey is over and ironically they were so close to finally visiting what they had waited so long to see.

Peaceful and scenic valley

The Sacred Valley is a beautiful area